Catalog: Estate Jewelry (314)

I could never exaggerate the sparkle of the two big, faceted color-change sapphires that adorn the opposing “wings” forming the face of the modernist Enrique Ledesma Mexican hinged bracelet at hand! Set here against untreated sterling (quite often, Ledesma uses niello-type oxidation to enhance the contrast between gemstone and silver) the stones pass from amethyst to a steely purple under different light conditions thus mimicking the behavior of alexandrites...

Out of Enrique Ledesma’s sterling silver and gemstone line, this modernist Mexican hinged bracelet is adorned with two faceted color-change sapphires. Mimicking the behavior of alexandrites by changing hue under different light conditions, these stones are often referred to as alexandrites themselves but they are in fact synthetic corundum...

“Jewels by Tono”, the signature found on the figural Mexican silver and carved amethyst brooch at hand, is one of Antonio Pineda’s early hallmarks. Holding a fan, his hair in a long braid, part of his face obscured by the wide coolie hat, the man portrayed here is meant to hail from the “exotic Far East”...

Classic Los Ballesteros Mexican silver and mottled agate bracelet, this is an iteration of the popular "dimpled dot" design thanks to the oval links separating the bezel-set stones. One of the oldest Mexican workshops, the Los Ballesteros taller was first founded in Iguala in 1937 yet by 1941 it was moved to Taxco...

Though it is not uncommon to find Mexican silver fur pins, it is usually single pieces that are available. Here, however, there is a pair bearing the signature of the Los Castillo in a “bow and flower” design. I am not sure if the workshop ever made a whole parure available in this specific design - I have had the small bow necklace / bracelet sets in the past but this is an enhanced version, with more elements added to the bow and the bow itself bigger and fancier...

Fun and perfect for this summer - especially if you decide to stay away from beaches! - this mod sterling silver "fish with air bubble" necklace by Los Castillo comes out of the workshop's "onix negro" line of jewelry. I find this technique fascinating - it poses a big challenge to the lapidary's and silversmith's abilities as the onyx slab has to be carved out precisely to the dimensions of the sterling inlay that will be set in it...

A variation of Antonio's amethyst cluster necklaces that doesn't come up often, this modernist dream is wrought in Pineda's signature fine, .970 alloy and adorned with richly colored stones. The renowned Taxco designer plays with a-symmetry here as the necklace's focal point, the stylized amethyst floral cascade, reaches out from the back of the neck and unfolds itself on its right side instead of occupying the center front...

Stunning Taxco modernist sterling silver pendant necklace this set seems to borrow stylistically from both Antonio Pineda (in its use of the black velvet cord) and the Los Ballesteros workshops (in featuring that huge gemstone). The signature it bears, however, attributes it to a listed yet still unidentified Mexican maestro whose work I have had before but about whom we don't really know that much...